It was announced in recent days that Günther Steiner has stepped down as team principal of Haas in Formula 1, thus leaving the project he has been involved in since its inception – including preparations since 2014, prior to its debut in the grid in 2016.
According to Sky Sports F1, the Italian did not even have the opportunity to say goodbye to the team personnel – although this was already a done deal since the end of December. Within the American team, there were growing concerns about Steiner’s parallel projects, including the book “Surviving to Drive” and discussions with CBS about a possible role in a comedy program – all of this at a delicate time for Haas in terms of sports performance. However, there may be disappointment within the factory regarding the departure of the former team leader.
Commentator for that television station, David Croft, talked about the possible reasons for this decision, starting with the factor of the media attention and popularity that Steiner was gaining, but above all the poor results:
– First, it is Gene Haas’ team and Günther Steiner was receiving most of the attention, and I’m sure that didn’t sit well with the team owner. But that’s not a reason to fire anyone. Their on-track performances last year may also have been part of the picture. They were good on Saturdays, with drivers like Nico Hülkenberg able to reach the top ten in qualifying, but then, due to the reasons behind their great performances in qualifying, their on-track performance on Sundays would suffer, causing them to fall back in the grid. And that probably wasn’t acceptable for an owner like Gene Haas, to end up at the bottom of the standings. That’s not what Gene Haas would want, so Günther paid the price for it’.
Steiner’s popularity skyrocketed with the series “Drive to Survive” due to his charisma, and in Croft’s opinion, Formula 1 loses more without the now former team principal of Haas than he does as a professional: ‘He has other interests in business, I’m sure he’ll be absolutely fine in that regard, but Formula 1 has lost a huge character, a very popular character, and someone who somehow transcended the sport. He was the third most popular team principal [in terms of advertising], I believe behind Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, and that’s good for the sport, that fans want to associate themselves with a team like Haas’.
